


A More Perfect World

by rei_c



Series: When Memories Live Again [3]
Category: Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Arguing, Biting, Bloodlust, Cheating, Cruelty, Emotional Manipulation, F/F, F/M, Fights, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, Mind Control, Mindfuck, Parent/Child Incest, Post-Canon, Pseudo-Incest, Rape, Reincarnation, Rough Sex, Series, Slapping, Slavery, What Have I Done
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-30
Updated: 2015-08-30
Packaged: 2018-04-18 04:17:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4691801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rei_c/pseuds/rei_c
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No one told Jupiter that Recurrences slowly gain the memories and personality of their genetic predecessor until the original takes over completely. When Jupiter finds out, it's not pretty. </p><p>or, a "5 Times Jupiter Lost Herself to Seraphi and 1 Time Seraphi Won" fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A More Perfect World

**Author's Note:**

> I...honestly cannot believe I wrote this. Um. Mind the tags, okay? 
> 
> Following chapter 2 of [The Little Prince](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4681166?view_full_work=true) and for everyone who wanted more. I hope this is what you wanted? But I don't know where the series goes after this, so if there's anything you want to see, any situation -- past, present, future -- let me know!

  
  
  


  


"Our memory is a more perfect world than the universe:  
it gives back life to those who no longer exist."  
― Guy de Maupassant

 

( _one_ ).  
It's a Monday. Jupiter has never liked Mondays. She thought that once she said goodbye to her family on earth and moved to Karyai, things might change. They haven't. 

Just like every other Monday for the past year and a half, Jupiter eats a quick breakfast in her rooms and then heads for the alcazar's offices where Kalique's been tutoring her on Entitled codes and manners. It still feels a little strange knowing that Kalique is sort-of-not-really her daughter and yet her teacher at the same time, and if that was all the awkwardness between them, that would be one thing. It's not, though; Jupiter manages to ignore most of the insinuations but Kalique keeps making sly little digs at Jupiter's clothes at the same time. Normally Jupiter would let it slide -- fashion or lack thereof has never been something she cares about -- but Jupiter had a strange dream last night, has been feeling strangely off since she woke up, tense and boiling over for a fight. 

"I suppose the military aesthetic is at least an aesthetic," Kalique says, taking a break from the sheaves scattered in front of Jupiter to pluck at the sleeve of Jupiter's jacket. "But you really should rethink this particular item." 

It's not the jacket Captain Tsing gave her as a replacement after what happened at the refinery, isn't even the second one that a different Aegis captain gifted her with after she took Titus out of his confinement. This jacket was designed just for her, hand-measured and hand-sewn to a dressmaker's exacting specifications by a coterie of feline and raven splices. Jupiter hadn't liked all the attention, not to mention to fittings and the cost and having all those strangers around, but both Kalique and Caine had insisted, so she gave in as gracefully as she could at the time.

Out of the hundreds of dresses, trousers, and shirts she has, this jacket is the most comfortable piece of clothing Jupiter owns and she wears it all the time. She _loves_ this jacket and when Kalique's comment filters though her mind, Jupiter turns slowly to look at Kalique.

"You don't like it because it's practical and functional," Jupiter says, and sweeps her eyes over Kalique's figure, raising an eyebrow at Kalique's outfit, from the thin-heeled boots to the dress moulded skin-tight over every one of her curves. "At least if another assassin comes for me, I'll be able to run away. You'll be a sitting duck for them and you'll only have yourself to blame."

"No assassins," Caine says. 

Jupiter turns, beams at him, and his snarling anger at the thought of yet another person trying to kill Jupiter wobbles a little, turns shy and sheepish. The rage that's been building up inside of her for the past couple hours dies down to a low, gentle simmer deep in her bones. "We hope not, anyway," she tells Caine. 

Kalique snorts and draws Jupiter's attention with the uncommon noise -- admittedly delicate, but decidedly uncommon. "As if anyone would dare to come after mother on her own planet in her own alcazar with all three of her heirs in attendance."

"It's happened before," Jupiter says, and she starts thumbing through the sheaves again, not even focused on what she's saying. "Better to be prepared. _Always_ , for all things. That's the Abrasax motto, after all, and you would do well to remember what I've taught you, Kalique."

Jupiter's expecting a smart-ass remark from Kalique or another comment about how safe she is from Caine, and when no one says anything for a solid thirty seconds, she looks up, glances between the shocked look on Caine's face and the smug superiority on Kalique's. 

"Of course, mother," Kalique says. 

The bottom drops out of Jupiter's stomach as she looks back at Caine and takes in the absolute devastation written across his face. Jupiter realises what's just happened, _how_ it happened, and she blurts out, "Lesson's over for today," before fleeing the room, Caine in tow.

 

( _two_ ).  
The dinners don't help. As if the first memory unlocking itself triggered an avalanche, Seraphi's instincts and mannerisms start coming faster and faster. Two weeks later, at dinner, it happens again. Titus is making suggestive comments -- like always -- and leaning over the table to stroke Jupiter's hand. Balem, seated across the table from Titus, is practically vibrating with anger. Kalique's watching Jupiter like she has since that morning in the offices, waiting, though Jupiter's not sure what, precisely, she's waiting for. Kiza, sitting next to Kalique, has her eyes on Caine, who's stock-still in the chair next to Jupiter. 

Jupiter slides her hand out from under Titus's and then pats it, says, "Shut up and eat your dinner, darling." 

It's the first time she's ever called him that but it feels -- strangely perfect, perfect and yet normal at the same time, as if she's called him 'darling' a million times over, _made_ him in such a way so she doesn't feel at all ridiculous calling him 'darling.' 

"Yes, mother," Titus says, looking at her from under his eyelashes as he settles back into his chair. "I'll do anything you tell me."

"Only you could make acquiescence sound so sexual," Jupiter says, before she elbows Caine and nods at his untouched plate. "Please," she says, softer, pleading. "Eat something."

Caine looks at her, studies her so deeply that his nostrils flare as he reads her scent as well as the expression across her face. "Majesty," he murmurs, so softly that Jupiter barely hears him, but he picks up his fork and takes a bite. 

He's been so reticent around her the past fortnight, spending most of his days shadowing her from a distance or sparring with other members of her guard. He hasn't even been sleeping with her at night, preferring to stand guard in her sitting room, and part of Jupiter wonders if he knows what happened when he was on assignment three months ago. 

She hadn't told him about the night she spent with Balem, had made sure the rooms were aired out and the bedding changed almost immediately, but it's like he knows, like he can read it off her the way she smells or see it written across her skin. She's tried to act the same around Balem but maybe she hasn't or maybe her scent's flared in some way that Caine's noticed or maybe it's just that her three primaries are orbiting Jupiter much closer than they ever had up to that point, drawn in tighter and tighter as if Jupiter's exerting her own brand of gravity on them. 

The guilt has been eating her alive. She knows that everyone else in this stupid, fucked-up universe would say that an Entitled would never have to explain themselves to a splice, would never have to apologise for taking what they want, when they want it, and then throwing it aside as soon as they're finished, but she's never cheated on a boyfriend before and she hates what she's doing to Caine, hates herself, hates Seraphi. 

Jupiter shifts in her chair and feels Caine's eyes on her a moment later, drawn by her anxiety and the way her scent's changed to flood with guilt, no doubt, but before Jupiter can reassure him, Balem speaks up.

"You don't have to ask a splice to do anything, Mother," he says, and Jupiter narrows her eyes when she sees him sneering at Caine. Jealousy drips from his voice like venom. "You command them."

"Balem," Jupiter hisses, smacking her hand on the table, letting the sting of it push her on. "Don't you _dare_ tell me how to treat my --" she starts to say, then stops, shakes her head lightly to try and get rid of the sudden red tinge of fury that has taken over her vision. She has no idea where that came, no idea what she was about to say. 

Caine leans down, puts his nose where her neck and shoulder meet, and inhales deeply. The noise he makes when he straightens back up is a whine low in his throat that sounds of nothing but despair and loss. 

"What?" Jupiter asks him, choosing to ignore the others at the table. "Caine? What is it?" 

His eyes, when he looks at her, are fathomless pools of sorrow. "Your scent is changing," he says. "It's been happening slowly since we got here but it's getting faster lately."

Jupiter doesn't understand. "What -- what does that mean? Is that even possible?"

"It means you're starting to remember, majesty," Stinger says from his guard position against the wall. "Starting to become your predecessor."

"I -- no," Jupiter says, and though she's barely touched her meal she's standing, chair pushed back from the table as she looks between the five still at the table. She spins, looks at Stinger, knows that she's panicking but can't stop herself. "No, I'm not, I -- I'm still me, Stinger. I'm not Seraphi, I'm _not_. I'll still be me."

Stinger takes one step forward and when he talks, his tone of voice is gentle even though the words cut through Jupiter's skin and land a direct hit to her heart. "You haven't asked about your family on earth for nine weeks, majesty. The change has been happening for months. Little things here and there, comments you've made or knowledge you have. You're just beginning to realise now but the rest of us, we've noticed it for a while." 

She should have known. She should have seen it. The night with Balem, she should have guessed then. She's losing herself, losing everything that makes her Jupiter Jones. She hasn't even asked about her _mother_.

Jupiter drops to one knee and vomits. 

 

( _three_ ).  
Caine stays away from her, out of her sight. She catches a glimpse of him every now and then out of the corner of her eyes and she thinks she can smell his presence once in a while, but for the most part, it's like he doesn't exist anymore. 

She finally asks Kiza about one night when Kiza's helping get her undressed after dinner and ready for bed. 

Kiza pauses as she's carefully unlacing the back of Jupiter's dress and meets Jupiter's eyes in the mirror. "He fell in love with you, Jupiter," she says, eyes dropping back down to the task at hand. "And now he's realised that you aren't going to be you much longer. Oh, part of you will still be there, but Seraphi's in your mind now, too. And he never loved her. He's just trying to protect himself from the inevitable."

"What's the inevitable?" Jupiter asks. Kiza glances at her and Jupiter drops her eyes, fiddles with the bracelet around her left wrist. She's -- she's not actually sure when she put this on, now that she thinks about, but it's gorgeous, some type of metal twined in on itself and holding tiny ebony jewels that remind her of Balem's hair and black, empty space. 

"You're falling out of love with him," Kiza says. "And soon he'll be nothing to you but another splice." She pauses, then adds, "None of us will." 

Jupiter swallows at the thought. "I won't forget you. I won't treat you like that, treat any of you the way the rest of them do."

Kiza puts her hands on Jupiter's shoulders, waits until Jupiter's meeting her gaze, and then says, "Yes, Jupiter. You will." 

A little piece of Jupiter's heart breaks. "Then you should go," she says, and she stands up, breaks out of Kiza's hold and starts pacing her room. "You should -- all of you: you, Stinger, Caine. Anyone who knew me -- _knows_ me, I mean. So that you don't have to see this, what I become. Not until we know it's safe."

"It will never be safe," Kiza says. "But we won't go. None of us will leave you. Don't you understand, Jupiter? We've given ourselves to you. You're our queen, _ours_ , and even if you change enough to treat us like any other Entitled would treat any other splice, you'll still be ours." She steps in Jupiter's path, puts her hand on Jupiter's chest, right above Jupiter's frantically beating heart, and adds, "Just like we're yours." 

Jupiter lifts one hand, cups the curve of Kiza's cheek and then places her hand over Kiza's, links their fingers together on Jupiter's chest. "Please don't let this happen." 

Kiza's eyes glimmer with tears. "It's too late, Jupiter. For what it's worth -- for what it's worth, I'm sorry. We all loved you, you know that, right? Try and -- try and remember that we loved you." She steps back, curtseys, and takes a deep breath before she asks, like this entire conversation hasn't happened and ripped Jupiter to shreds, "Will there be anything else tonight, majesty?"

"Please, Kiza," Jupiter murmurs. 

Kiza shakes her head, eyes on the floor, and says, "If there's nothing else, majesty, I'll leave you to sleep," and she goes as Jupiter stands there, alone, tears streaming down her face.

She remembers now: the bracelet was a present to herself, to remind her of Balem when he was gone off taking care of house or industry business. She wore it when she missed him. 

It explains the triumph in his eyes the first time he saw it around her wrist and Jupiter screams in anger, tearing the bracelet off and throwing it across the room as hard as she can. The tiny stones sound like rain as they hit the floor and go rolling every which way but it's not enough, will never be enough. 

"Alcazar," Jupiter says, "what did Seraphi used to do when she was angry? How did she calm down?"

"Your majesty has always kept a number of well-trained and fast-healing splices in all of her properties," the alcazar intelligence replies. "Shall I summon any for you?"

Part of Jupiter wants to say yes, wants to take out this fury on something -- someone -- else, to make someone else hurt as much as she's hurting now. The majority, though, is horrified, both at the implication of Seraphi's bloodlust and at her reaction to the idea. 

"No," she breathes.

"Very well, majesty," the alcazar says. 

Jupiter stands there a moment longer and then she goes to bed. Things will look better in the morning -- she hopes. 

 

( _four_ ).  
Jupiter fights the slide into Seraphi as hard as she can. She starts making a point of asking Stinger about her family on earth at breakfast every morning. She gives up on her lessons with Kalique and spends hours alone with Kiza, the two of them comparing their favourite things from earth: music, movies, food, celebrities. She avoids her -- Seraphi's children as much as possible, ignoring them during the day and rushing through dinner in the evening. 

It doesn't help -- or, if it does, it doesn't help all that much. She can feel parts of herself slipping away, remembers Seraphi's life more vividly than her own, and no one comments on the screams and shrieks and sobs coming from her rooms. 

No one except Balem, of course. 

\--

Jupiter sends Kiza away and is indulging in another crying jag after she'd forgotten all about _pizza_ , how is that even possible? It's mid-day and she's sitting on the floor of her bedroom in a heap of blankets and pillows, fragments of glass and ceramic vases lying across the room where she'd thrown them just for the pleasure of seeing them break. She's numb, heart as sore as her eyes and throat, and she doesn't react when there's a knock on the door. 

Another knock, then the door opens, and Jupiter says, "Go away," without looking to see who's interrupted her pity-party. 

"I know I told you I could never say no to you," Balem says, "but, Mother, I know that you don't want me to leave."

He comes inside, lets the door shut behind him, and crosses over to her, drops to his knees in front of her. Jupiter turns her head away from him but Balem takes hold of her chin, turns her head back to face him. 

"Mother," he says. "Please."

Jupiter looks at him, can't not after he asked, and he inhales sharply when he sees her, sees how ragged she is and how obviously she's not sleeping or eating. He narrows his eyes and opens his mouth but before he can say anything, Jupiter wrenches her chin out of his grasp and turns her back on him. 

"Go away," she says. "Leave me alone while I'm still me and come back when I'm your precious _Mother_ again."

Her voice is filled with hatred, words soaked in poison, and she can feel more than hear Balem flinch. 

He waits to see if she's going to say anything else but when it's clear she's done, he says, "Mother." 

" _I'm not your fucking mother!_ " Jupiter screams, turning back to face Balem, reaching out and slapping him across the face, not holding anything back. The force of her strike sends him sprawling backwards but he doesn't leave, doesn't fight back. He just -- gives in and something about his submission makes everything that much worse. "Why won't you fight back? You tried to kill me, you _did_ kill me, and now you just _stand_ there and let me hit you the way you let me spank you, the way you let me mark you up with my nails in our fucking _sleep_. What is _wrong_ with you?!"

Something in Balem's eyes flares hot and cruel; the expression sets Jupiter to burning and she wants -- universe above -- she _wants_ him, wants him underneath her, wants him begging, wants his blood over her skin and his flesh in her teeth. She curls her lips and stands up, snaps at him, teeth clacking against each other with her intent to hurt him. Balem rises as well and Jupiter fights as he pushes her backwards, bruising grip on her wrists until he slams her into the wall. 

"Nothing is wrong with me, Mother," he says, and bends, gets right in her face, so fucking close to her teeth. She aches to see him bleed. "I am exactly what you made me. I'm your Abrasax and I am perfect for you, in every way. If anyone here is wrong, it's _you_."

Jupiter snarls, knees him in the groin, and when he goes down to the floor in pain, she follows, straddles him and rips off his collar so that she can wrap her hands around his throat. "I am not wrong," she hisses. "I am Seraphi Abrasax and this universe will burn at my feet. You will burn, Balem, if you _ever_ lay hands on me like that again -- we have had millennia together but I have two other primaries and I will not hesitate to put you down like a rabid dog if you start acting like one."

Balem goes lax under her, tilts his head to bare his throat, give her more room to strangle him if she so chooses, and Seraphi bends down, fits her lips to Balem's, takes what she wants -- and glories in the fact that he gives her _everything_. 

\--

Jupiter wakes up the next morning in bed with no memory of how she got there but she aches when she stretches and when she strips to shower, she sees bruises on her wrists, her hips, scratches down her back. 

Her immediate reaction is hope that it was Caine, that he's come back, that he's determined to make them work, but hope fades when she dresses, goes out to her sitting room, and sees Balem sleeping on the couch. It's not so much Balem's presence that has her stomach roiling, it's the handprints around his throat, the bruises on his neck and shoulder, the edges of scratches she can see on his arms and his back. 

She knows, without a shadow of doubt, that if she was to go over there and put his hands around her wrists, his fingers would fit every mark perfectly. She knows that the marks on his skin came from her.

"Well, fuck," she says, and flees her rooms once it appears Balem's waking up. 

 

( _five_ ).  
Kiza, already one of Jupiter's only friends in space, becomes her closest confidant and pseudo-Mother Confessor. Jupiter tells her every time her memories twist, trusts Kiza to tell her when she's acting more like an Abrasax than she probably should be, keeps Kiza close to the point that Kiza becomes her shadow, always there, never away from Jupiter's side. 

Caine, on the other hand, has put such emotional distance between them that he might as well be half the galaxy away. He doesn't leave, though, even when Jupiter practically gets on her knees and _pleads_ , which makes her love him and hate him in equal measure. 

Stinger doesn't change. He's always treated her the same, perhaps more familiarly than a normal guard commander but always with a sense of respect for her position, a manner around her that speaks of an understanding of rankings and castes that Jupiter never liked but is slowly becoming prey to. 

It makes him steady, in a way, and she's walking with him one morning when she says, "I never asked if you would stay. I asked Kiza to leave, told Caine to, but I never even thought to talk to you. Why?"

Stinger glances at her for a brief second, then turns his attention back to the gardens, always the captain of her guard, always focused on her protection. "Because I always remembered my place, majesty," he says. "My daughter -- she thought she could be your friend. And Caine, well. But even though it's taking longer than we thought, I always knew you'd remember Seraphi. I knew someday I'd be nothing more than a splice to you, maybe a valued one based on my skills and my loyalty, but a splice nonetheless. Part of you knew that and knew that Kiza was right when she told you that you're our queen, that we belong to you. You expect me to stay and you're not wrong."

Jupiter takes that in, is about to respond, but then Titus is striding up the garden path. Stinger drifts to the background, barely in Jupiter's awareness at all as Titus gets to her, holds her tight and then picks her up at the waist and spins her around in the air. 

"Titus, put me down," Jupiter shrieks, and when he does, she smacks the back of his head. He pouts, an over-the-top expression that looks adorable on him, and she sighs, runs her fingers through his hair and caresses the spot where she just hit him. "You're such a big baby," she says, grinning. 

"Oh, mother," Titus says, taking Jupiter's hand and bending over it, kissing it and letting his tongue dart over the spaces between her knuckles. "Definitely big, decidedly _not_ a baby."

Seraphi sighs, rolls her eyes. "If there's one person in the 'verse who's aware of how old you are, Titus, it's me. Now stop flirting and tell me what brought you out here. You know better than to disturb me when I'm walking the gardens." 

Titus looks at her, head tilted to the side, lips pursed, says, "Mother?" like he's not sure who she is. 

"Yes?" Seraphi answers, and runs her thumb over his lower lip, says, "I did not give you these lips for you to bite them like that, Titus. Stop wasting my time and tell me what you want."

"You, mother," he says, but it's almost like he's issuing a challenge, that or testing her. "You know the only thing in the universe that I want is you." 

Seraphi laughs, pinches Titus's cheek and then kisses him. When she leans back, she takes in the flush on Titus's face and his swollen lips. "Beautiful, like always," she says. He looks stunned. "Oh, my darling," Seraphi says, and laughs again. "Very well. You want mother, you have her." 

Titus slowly, achingly slowly, leans forward to kiss her again but it's as if he's hesitant, like she might change her mind. 

"Do not waste my time, Titus," Seraphi warns, but then Titus picks her up, is carrying her in the direction of her favourite grotto, and the captain of her guard is following, seeing to their safety but not interfering. He's a good one; Seraphi may have to see what he's like in the bedroom later, all that brooding restraint and protectiveness bodes well for a very obedient lover. She has Balem for obedience, though -- perhaps something else for this splice.

"Have I lost you, mother?" Titus asks, and his pace slows, his grasp on her more fragile, as if she's become more delicate in the last few minutes. 

"Never, my darling," Seraphi says, and forgets about the splice, biting her mark into the skin behind Titus's ear.

\--

There is someone on her -- lips, hands, teeth. Jupiter groans, tries to get away through the pounding in her head, but whoever it is shushes her, kisses her, and then she can feel him inside of her, fucking her, taking her. Jupiter wants to scream, she does, but -- she's not sure whether she wants to scream in fear or in pure wanton pleasure as her climax starts to build at the base of her spine. 

"Mother," the man says and it's -- she knows that voice. "Fuck, _mother_ , I've missed you, I've missed you so much, come back to us, _please_ , we need you, we're nothing without you, come back to us, we need you." 

"Titus," Seraphi gasps, and even as a very distant part of her mind is consumed with the idea of getting away, the rest of her, the majority of her, is throwing her head back, is wrapping legs tight around Titus, is pressing his head down to her breasts. "Mother's here. Mother's here, darling, my darling Titus, I'm here, sshh, darling, I'm here." 

\--

Jupiter comes back to herself mid-step and she nearly falls, right there on the garden path. Stinger is there to catch her, though, and he gives her an oddly surprised look when she thanks him. 

"What?" she asks. "Stinger?"

"Majesty," he says, hesitantly. "I apologise. I'll have the servitants come make sure the path is cleared."

Jupiter frowns at him then shrugs it off as Stinger being Stinger. "I wonder if Kiza's made brownies," she says. "We should go check, just in case." Jupiter can't help but grin at the look on Stinger's face; she'd been banned from the kitchen after the last time she attempted to cook and likes nothing more than trying to sneak in and steal some food without anyone noticing. 

Someone always does, of course, but it's still fun to try. 

Behind her, Stinger groans, but he doesn't stop her. He never tries to stop her from doing anything she truly wants, and Jupiter can't help but remember their conversation earlier. There's a whole blank space there, though, and even though she wants to know what she's missing, she's terrified to ask.

 

( _plus one_ ).  
Months later, years later, longer than anyone thought possible, Seraphi wakes up in her alcazar, stretches, and gets out of bed. There's a brief, flittering moment when she sets eyes on the splice ready to help her dress for the day and feels -- something, she's not sure -- but she shrugs it off. 

"Green today, I think," she says, walking past the splice without any other acknowledgement. She gets to her dressing room and turns, raises an eyebrow when she sees the splice staring at her. "Well?" she asks, impatiently. "Get over here, splice, and do your job, or I'll send you back to your manufacturer with a warranty claim." 

"Yes, majesty," the splice says. "Apologies, majesty." 

Seraphi keeps her eyes on the splice, takes in the young face and fresh skin, and can't remember purchasing this one. "What's your name?" she asks. 

The splice freezes in place, says, "Ki -- Kiza, majesty." 

"Kiza," Seraphi echoes, thinking. No, she's sure she didn't buy this one; she doesn't much care for the insectoid splices. Must've been a present from someone. Hmm. "Who gave you to me?"

"Majesty, a -- it was another Entitled," Kiza answers, stuttering, her cheeks pale and her pupils flared wide with a terror so vast that Seraphi can almost taste it on the air. The taste of this splice's fear is sweet like honey, slides down Seraphi's throat.

Seraphi studies the splice, tilts her head in thought. Perhaps she was wrong to dismiss the insectoid splices wholesale because there is something about this one she find she likes. Seraphi owns this one, she knows, right down to the splice's marrow, and says, "On your knees." 

Kiza drops instantly, head bowed to the floor, murmurs, "How may I serve, majesty?"

The texture of her hair is like silk under Seraphi's touch when she reaches out, strokes the splice's hair and cheek. She thinks about the feeling of that hair on her skin and smiles. Perhaps she and Titus will play with this one later -- or she'll give the splice to Kalique. Her daughter did always have a good touch with submissive little chambermaids. It could prove entertaining for an afternoon, at least, something to do when she needs a break from dealing with house business.

Seraphi hums, then waves a hand and turns away. "Very well, splice," she says. "On your feet and get to work."


End file.
